Monday, October 28, 2013

Once again. Don't even know where to begin. Pretty good week
though. Super duper duper hot. I'm kind of just used to that now though. I wake
up expecting to sweat the entire day.

This last week flew by. Tuesday we had our district meeting which
was really good. We set a goal to talk to way more people than we have been.
Just like they said in conference. If you want to teach more people, you have
to talk to more people. Hopefully we still get some new investigators soon that
we will be able to start teaching. Lots of people here will listen to what you
have to say but have absolutely no desire to change. There are tons of people
here that were born Catholic and they're sure gonna die Catholic too. It's okay
though. There's lots of people here too that are prepared for the gospel and
are ready for the message that we have.

Wednesday morning as Elder Cortes and I were studying in the
morning we got a call from the zone leaders saying that we were going to have
companion exchanges for the day. So after lunch I got to go to Santa Julia with
Elder L. Elder L is super great. He is from Argentina and he's been out for
like 23 months. He’s the first missionary from his branch in 10 years. I really
liked working with Elder L. One of the things that I really liked about working
with him was that even though he's going home in like 3 weeks he's not trunky
at all. He wants to make the best of the little time he has left in the field.
Even though he's probably not going to be having any more baptisms, he still
works hard. He's not here to add another baptism to his list, he's here cause
he wants to share the gospel with everyone. It was super good working with him.
I feel like I learned a lot.

Friday was another super good day this week. Friday was my first
multi-zone conference. It was sooooooooooo great. The theme of this conference
was "What can I do to become a consecrated missionary?" One of the
things I loved about it was that President talked about the importance of
knowing our purpose. We talked about the Book of Mormon a lot and went over
examples in the Book of Mormon of people who knew their purpose. I love the
Book of Mormon. We can honestly learn so much from the Book of Mormon.
President always talks about how we need to read the Book of Mormon every day
and look for things that apply to our investigators. It was a super good
conference. One of the missionaries that had to give a talk, talked about how
there is good in every day and how we need to find the good. In the mission
there are hard and challenging things every single day. But there are also
things that are super great about every day. We have to find the good in every
day and not dwell on the hard or trying things.

Saturday went super well. It was one of the days where you are
walking all day long, teaching a ton of people, talking to a ton of people, and
getting rejected a lot. One of the reasons that I felt like it was a great day
was because it was one of the days that makes you feel confident in the
language. It's days like that that really make me think about how much I've
learned in the past 3 months. It's days like that that encourage me and make me
believe that I can learn this language. I know I will. I just have to keep
practicing and studying. The gift of tongues is real.

Sunday was a great day. They always are. One of the coolest parts
of Sunday was that I got to help with the confirmation of Anthony. It was a
super cool experience. He is super excited and happy about being a member of
the church. After sacrament meeting he had a meeting with the Bishop and received
a calling. That night we went over to his house and when we got there he was
reading his scriptures. There is no way on earth that he would have been doing
that 2 months ago. He really has received a testimony!

And I got the flash drive this last week with all of the music on
it! That was amazing to get! I love music! Music can bring the spirit and help
calm you down like almost nothing else can. Music is powerful!

Today for p-day I went and got my hair cut and then went to
Tottus. This afternoon we're going to play soccer with some other missionaries
and a couple of future missionaries. It should be really fun in the million
degree weather! Haha. Soccer is really fun. It's literally the main thing here
that people do to have fun. Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer
Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer Soccer.

It’s crazy how fast time flies by on the mission. Lauren will be
at halfway this year in 2013. It honestly seems like she left a month or two
ago. I've been in Piura for 2 months now and it only feels like 3 weeks maybe. Lauren, you’re right, there is no way that I can pay Him back for
all the blessings I'm receiving. We can't pay Him back. But that's not going to
stop us from trying! Missionary work is the best! Even when you are hot and
sweaty. It's the best. Keep working hard. Love you!

Readin the Revista`

Fav place in the cuartoHonestly so tired and ready for bed every day at 10:30 pm

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

First off. Of course the Red Sox make it to the World Series
as soon as I leave on my mission. They will probably win this year and the next
year while I'm still gone and then never win again the rest of my life. It's
okay though. As much as it is killing me to know that I'm not going to be able
to watch the World Series with the Red Sox, I would much rather be here. Being
a missionary is the best. I love being able to focus on the gospel every single
day. My testimony has grown sooooooo much in the 3 months I have been out here.
I wouldn't trade this opportunity for 100 World Series titles.

This was such a great week. Such a blur too. Time flies by so
quickly here it is hard to keep all the days straight. Thank goodness for my
journal. It's kind of fun reading a page or two at night before I go to bed and
seeing how much I have changed since the CCM. I love this place so much. When I
first arrived I never thought I would learn to love Piura as much as I do right
now. It really feels like home. And I'm definitely growing to love rice. When I
first arrived I wondered how people could eat that much rice. Now I eat all of
my rice and want more! Rice is sooo good! The people here all know how to cook.
Every single day we get rice cooked a different way by our pensionista. No
matter how it is cooked. It is always amazing!

One cool thing that happened this week was on Tuesdayl You'll
never believe this but it was cold on Tuesday! I broke out my sweater that I
figure I'll use 3 times on my mission. It was because it was raining almost the
entire night and morning! Tuesday morning we walked to the stake center for
district meeting in the rain! That was pretty fun. I figure that it is
something that I'm not going to be able to experience very much on my mission.
Because pretty much every other day is just sun. Strictly the blue sky and sun.
There are hardly ever any clouds here.

Looking out our balcony on a cold rainy day in Piura

First cold day in Piura

The rest of the week did not stay cold though. The entire rest of
the week was HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my
life. And I just have to smile because every day is going to be the same way
now that it is getting close to summer! Luckily right now it still cools off at
night. I don't know if I'm going to be that lucky in the summer though.

The best part of the week was definitely this weekend with our
baptism! We checked up with him multiple times throughout the week to make sure
that he was still ready and excited for his baptism! Saturday night he had his
baptismal interview with the zone leaders. During the interview my companion
and I talked to the bishop and found out that his key to the baptismal font had
broken and that there wasn't anyone that had keys. So my companion and I spent
30 minutes trying to break into the baptismal font. Finally I was able to get the
lock to open with a pair of scissors. I still don't even know how it worked. I
didn't even break it!

His baptism was Sunday after church! The young single adults in
the ward all came and were super supportive of him and the decision he was
making to be baptized. I think it meant a lot to him that there are people that
came to support him who are going to be his friends as he becomes a member of
the church. The whole week I had been worried that either I was going to mess
up with the words in Spanish, or that he wouldn't go all the way under that
water and we would have to redo it. Luckily it went super smoothly! First try!
It was such a cool experience! A day that I had been dreaming about since
I was a little kid. The day I would get to baptize one of my investigators on
my mission!

Sunday morning before the baptism I was starting to become full of
doubts. Wondering if he was really ready for baptism or if we were just pushing
him to be baptized. I said a prayer asking for an answer. The spirit never
fails you. Pretty soon I was filled with calm thoughts and I knew that he was
ready for the baptism. After the baptism he had the opportunity to share his
testimony to all those who came to his baptism. As cool as the actual baptism
was, that was the spiritual highlight for me. He bore his testimony about how
he knew the church was true and that he had to "seguir adelante" [go ahead]. That was so cool for me--to see how
far he has come. He was nowhere close to being ready for baptism when we
started teaching him. But over the last 2 months he has gained a testimony of
the church. It is so cool seeing how the gospel can influence someone in their
life.

I love personal prayer. It is so important as a missionary. I
spend a lot of time praying. Every time I pray, my testimony is strengthened of
prayer. I know that it is real and that we have a Heavenly Father who answers
our prayers.

I'm so grateful to be a member of "La Iglesia de Jesucristo
de los Santos de los Últimos Días". I know that the church is true!

Love you all! Thanks for everything!

Elder Baker

P.S. You asked whether we had hot water in our shower ....
hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I don't think it exists here in Piura. Here there
are two temperatures of water. Ice and Hielo [Ice]. haha.

Guess what? My Johnston & Murphy shoes are splitting apart from the sole already
--it's only been three months. We do LOTS of walking.

Guess what? Our bathroom works! Not even joking. Our bathroom
works! It's a miracle! I haven't had to use the plunger in like 8 days! You
have no idea how much better you feel about going to the bathroom when you
don't have to stress if it's gonna work when you flush it or not! hahaha but
for real.

It has been a great week here in Piura. The weather is continuing
to heat up and the mosquitos are getting thicker and thicker. And I am
understanding more and more and I am growing to love Piura more and more. It's
starting to feel like home. I'm starting to know my way around the city. I
really do love it here.

On Tuesday this past week we went to meet with our investigator
and talk about Conference. Before, we decided that we were going to bear our
testimonies and then challenge him to be baptized. We went to his house and had
a pretty good lesson with him about the ordinance of baptism and then bore our
testimonies and challenged him to be baptized and guess what!? He accepted the
invitation! He is planning on being baptized this coming Sunday right after our
meetings! We are going to have it on Sunday so that many of the members will
stay for it. Especially the ones his age so he can meet some of the people in
the ward that he can be friends with. As President Hinckley said, every member
needs a friend in church. We're going to talk to a lot of the people his age
this week and personally invite them to the baptism! I'm so excited! It's so
cool to see how far he's come from when I arrived. When I arrived he really didn't
even have a testimony at all. It's so cool to see how he has been able feel of
the Spirit's influence in his life as he is now preparing for baptism!

This week the other companionship in our apartment left. It was
pretty sad when they left. We had all grown to be good friends. Our apartment
is super quiet. It's weird walking into their room now and having it be
completely empty! It's kind of nice though because now we have a ton more room
for our stuff and have 2 refrigerators and 2 microwaves to use for this transfer.
This week we spent almost an entire day getting to know their area, their
investigators, and the members in their area. Their area is huge! Every time
I'm there I feel super lost. I'm sure it will get better as I familiarize
myself more with it. We were walking our first night there and we came to this
lake. We have a lake in our ward boundaries. Whodda thunk that we had a lake in
our ward. I sure didn't know that before! It's kind of nice having new people
to talk to, and new doors to knock on. Even though we have to walk a ton I
really think that it is going to be a great change.

Saturday night was some kind of holiday for kids. I think it is
called Dia del niños. I thought about how McKay always talked about how there
is a Mothers day and a Fathers day and how there should be a children's day.
McKay, you should move to Piura. They have a day for that here! The whole day
there were parties everywhere with little 6 to 12 year old kids running around
screaming and music pounding. Saturday night we were walking back to our room
and the music kept on getting louder and louder and louder and louder and when
we finally turned onto our street we saw that there was this giant party in our
street right underneath our room. There were probably like 200 people there.
Little kids, teenagers, adults, EVERYONE! There were even porta-potties! This
party was huge! At like 9:30 pm all of the little kids started to leave, but
the adults didn't leave. They just brought out the crates of alcohol and
started drinking and dancing. I was lying in bed thinking about how there was
no way I was going to be able to sleep with the music pounding and then finally
I heard the rain start. First time it has rained while I've been here. It had
kind of sprinkled for a little bit on another day but it wasn't really rain.
This was really rain. It started down pouring. I was so happy! Within about 15
minutes they had to turn off the music and everyone left to go home! It was a
pretty cool little thunderstorm!

Sunday. One of the scariest things of the mission so far. My
companion and I show up to sacrament meeting and we're sitting there and the
bishop's messenger runs up to us. "Hey do you guys have talks you can
give?" My companion nods like it's no big deal. I'm sitting there thinking
to myself. "I don't know about him but I sure don't have a talk in my
backpack that I can get up and read!?!?!?!" I was pretty scared. I quickly
said a prayer asking for the gift of tongues and hurried and tried to think of
what I was going to give a talk on in a language that I don't know. I figured
that since I am a missionary and since we talk about the Book of Mormon all the
time that that would probably be the easiest thing to talk about. When I got up
there I just started to talk and amazingly, I was able to talk for about 5
minutes about the Book of Mormon in Spanish. Looking back on it, I honestly
don't know how I did it. It was a super good faith building experience for me.
I know that the spirit helped me through my talk. You always hear the scripture
about opening your mouth and how the spirit will fill it with the words to say.
It's true. Turns out I just had to try it to figure out that it's real. And, our
investigator came to sacrament meeting! Without us passing by his house to
bring him with us!

I sing my heart out in sacrament meeting because I figure that if
I'm a horrible singer it's okay, because I fit in with every other tone deaf
person in our ward! Haha. You would cringe in sacrament meeting during the
hymns. They sing them a cappella and sometimes they sing a hymn and I laugh
because that's not really how the hymn goes. Haha I love it here!

I'm so grateful to be a missionary here in this area. This ward is
great. The members here in Perú truly are special. I love it here. I know the
Book of Mormon is true. In Spanish and English. I know that this church is true
and there is nothing I would rather be doing than helping others come to a
knowledge of the Restored Gospel.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Once again. I don't even know where to start. Seriously. Every
time I get here there is so much going through my mind that I can't even think
straight.

So much happened this week. And this week was infinitely better
than the last week. My Spanish is improving and I am able to understand people
more and teach more of the lessons. I am so excited to see how much improved I
am in another transfer. Crazy, right? I have finished my first transfer in the
mission field. It honestly feels like of the 12 weeks I have been out 10 of
them were in the MTC and 2 of them were in the field. Time flies by out here!
It is pretty crazy!

So this past week we had our last zone meeting of this transfer.
The area of Piura that we are in is very difficult. There aren´t many baptisms.
In our whole zone there were only 2 baptisms in the month of September. We
talked about how we can improve those numbers in the next transfer. Our zone is
off to a good start because we already have as many in October as we had in all
of the month of September. We´re ready to work hard and do what needs to be
done.

Wednesday was one of the best days of the mission so far! Mainly
because I just got to see all of my friends from the MTC! It was so nice to see
everyone! After 5 weeks they always have a training with the new group and with
their trainers. It was so fun to hear everyone´s stories about what has
happened so far in their missions! It was cool because we were able to
communicate with each other in Spanish! Super broken Spanish, but it was
Spanish. That's something that we could never have done 5 weeks ago when we
entered the field. The meeting was on planning and how important it is to make
planning a huge priority. In the 30 minutes that you plan every night you
pretty much determine what is going to get accomplished in the next day. It was
super good. It was at the perfect time. Elder Cortes and I made a lot of new
goals on how we are going to plan better starting this transfer. We are really
going to try to follow the spirit and not just go through the motions every
night so we can go to bed because we are exhausted. It was so cool how the
meeting was in Spanish and I could actually understand what they were trying to
teach us. It reminded me of my first day in the field when we were sitting in
the same room and I was sitting there hoping that nothing important was being
said cause I had no clue what they were saying. It was super good.

Saturday, after the afternoon session the assistants came up to
Elder Cortes, Elder Aquino, Elder Levi, and me and gave us some pretty big news—they´re
closing the area of Elder Aquino and Elder Levi for this next transfer. There
are a lot of missionaries going home today and not enough coming in to cover it
all. So for this next transfer Elder Cortes and I are going to have
responsibility for the entire ward. That's pretty significant. It's a good
thing that I have 2 good feet that can walk because I'm going to be doing a
whole lot of it. Our area now is ginormous! Honestly it takes about 45 minutes
to walk from one side of the ward to the other. Our ward boundaries here are
bigger than our stake boundaries at home. It's super sad thinking about how
this is my last day with Elder Aquino and Elder Levi here in Lopez Albujar.
They have honestly become some of my best friends. The four of us in our
apartment get along so well. It's not going to be the same without them, but
they are obviously needed somewhere else. They will be sent wherever they are
needed to help build the Kingdom of God. Elder Cortes and I are okay with the
change too. We understand that it's going to be really difficult, but instead
of letting it get to us we are letting it motivate us to get out and work even
harder than we have before. I'm so excited to start this new transfer and work
hard. There is no where I would rather be and nothing that I would rather be
doing than being here in the mission field serving the Lord.

General Conference. General Conference was amazing! It always is.
I love how whatever your situation in life, conference is always specifically
directed at you. It turns out that this conference for me was about missionary
work and hastening the work. Every talk was amazing. I was so glad that I was
able to watch it in English. They had one room in the stake center for all of
the gringo missionaries. There were like 8 of us in the room together. There
were 3 of them in the room that actually finished their missions today and are
on the way to their houses right now. They said that even though they could
understand everything that would be said in Spanish they wanted to watch it in English
because they wanted to hear the voice of the Prophet and the Apostles. I think
that is so true. I'm so glad that I know all of the voices of the Prophet and
Apostles. I love conference and the opportunity to come and hear a prophet´s
voice. The things in this general conference were definitely inspired for our
time. I'm so grateful for everything that I learned from this general
conference. It makes me so excited for when we will get the Liahona and I will
get to read through their talks once more.

Another cool thing about this general conference was with one of
our investigators. He has been meeting with the missionaries for a long time
and pretty much understands everything we are trying to teach him in the
lessons but he has some doubts. He had said that he had doubts as to whether
President Monson really is a prophet of God. Elder Cortes and I figured that
this would be a perfect opportunity to invite him to come to conference and
hear President Monson speak at the Priesthood session and pray to know whether
or not he was a prophet of God. We went to his house Saturday night to pick him
up and bring him with us to Conference. He kind of hesitantly came with us.
After the session he had a smile on his face and I think he was able to feel of
the spirit. I was super happy that night. Elder Cortes and I have been
specifically praying for him a lot. We were glad to see that the spirit was
able to testify to him. But the really cool thing happened on Sunday. We hadn't
even invited him to come but he came to the morning session on Sunday morning
too! Without us even asking him to come! I'm so excited for this week to have
another lesson with him. I'm really hoping and praying that he will come to
know that the church is true and have a desire to be baptized!

This morning for P-day we went and played soccer with all of the
friends that we have made in the ward. Today is a holiday and so none of the
young men had classes and were able to come play with us at the Church. I
absolutely love the ward here. Everyone is amazing. It was kind of sad when
Elder Levi and Elder Aquino had to say good bye to everyone here. Today was a
great P-day. I'm so excited for this next week. I'm ready to go out and work
hard.

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that I am a child of
God. I have a loving Heavenly Father and a Savior and Redeemer that atoned for
our sins so that we can overcome death and receive eternal life. I know that
this church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is scripture that was written
for our day. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to read the Book
of Mormon every day. Every time I read it my testimony is strengthened. I know
that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God that helped restore the gospel to the
earth in this dispensation. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to
be a missionary and go and share the gospel with others.

Thanks for all of the Love and Support! Love you all! So much!

Elder Baker

P.S. I love that quote about The Standard of Truth! I actually
listened to that this morning on a CD of church songs that Elder Aquino has!
Crazy timing right!

Lauren, Sounds like you had a great week. I'm jealous that you get
to watch conference this weekend. I want to watch it again. It's so good! And
I'm definitely jealous of the gym. I miss working hard and sweating. Sounds
crazy but it's for real. I know that there is no one that is going to read this
that will believe me, but I'm gaining weight. I've probably gained 10 pounds
here. No joke. Everyone here feeds us. It's impossible to say no! Keep working
hard! I pray for you every day! Love you!

I don't even know where to begin. I swear every time I get here to
email, my mind goes blank because its 2,000,000,000 degrees and I can't think!
We go to this little house that has a bunch of computers to email every week.
It's only like 1 sol for an hour so it's pretty good. Except that there is no
AC. There is no AC here, no AC in our room, no AC in members’ houses, no AC in
investigators houses, and definitely no AC in the streets. It is so so so so so
so hot. And I love it.

This last week was really difficult as far as missionary work
goes. It seems like the whole week, every one of our investigators wasn't home
when we went to visit them, or the investigator had tons of questions and
doubts, or something. But I honestly feel like it was a good week for me
personally. It made me really grateful that the people are usually so
accepting. There are lots of areas that I could be serving where it could be
like that every day, all year long. There was a ton going on this week. Monday
was P-day. Tuesday morning was "Morning with the Missionaries" for
the priest-aged youth in the ward, Wednesday was district meeting, Thursday was
interviews with president for our zone in the mission office, and Friday my
companion had to go to the doctor the dermatologist. It made it kind of hard to
reach some of our investigators that are only able to meet with us in the
mornings. Hopefully this week will be a little bit smoother.

One crazy thing that happened this week was Thursday night. It
gets dark here at like 7 every night. On Friday night we were talking with one
of our investigators and the power went out. It was only like 7:30, but it made
it kind of hard to teach the rest of the night. It was kind of dangerous too.
We went over to the house of a family that was baptized within the last year
and kind of just talked to them for a while because we didn't want to be out on
the streets. Their 14 year old son, and a member of the ward went out to buy
bread at the panaderia, and they were gone for a while. They finally came back
and told us that they had been robbed and didn't have their phones anymore. It
was completely dark and two people just jumped out of a moto taxi and put them
in a head lock. They said that it probably wasn't a great idea to be walking
around with their phones out, because supposedly, cell phones are super sought
after things here. We have a cell phone but we leave it in the apartment all
day. It was pretty fun getting ready for bed that night with no light. I was so
grateful that dad made me pack that little flashlight. It would have been
impossible without it!

Saturday we had a lesson with one of our investigators and her
husband. They have been having a lot of problems with their marriage lately and
as of earlier this week, they were living separately. We were able to have a
lesson with both of them and talk about the plan of salvation and the
importance of eternal families and the role that they have to care for their
little 2 year old daughter. It was a super good lesson. They both seemed super
receptive to it. I'm really hoping that they will be willing to make the
necessary changes and forgive one another. I don't know, but I really think
that mother may end up being baptized! This week we´re hoping to have some good
lessons with them!

Sunday was kind of frustrating. We had like 5 investigators that
said that they were going to try to come to church on Sunday, and only 1 of
them showed up. And the one that did show up can't even be baptized until
February, because she has to be married and she is working on getting the
papers necessary for marriage. People have their agency, and we can't make them
choose what we know is right. I really wish that they knew what they were
missing out on though!

On Saturday, the ward returned from the temple trip to Lima. They
took a bus with like 100 people to Lima to visit the temple. Yesterday was fast
and testimony meeting and it was so cool to see all of them bear their
testimonies. Families were able to be sealed, a member that is the single
member in his family who was able to receive his Endowments before he leaves on
his mission to Paraguay next month, and youth that were able to do baptisms for
the dead. It was so cool to see how much their testimonies had grown in one
week. It made me so grateful that we live so close to so many temples. We live
15 minutes from the temple and these people live 15 hours from the nearest
temple. They are so excited for the new temple in Trujillo to be completed in
2015. I'm so grateful for temples. They really are the house of the Lord. The
spirit is always so strong inside the temples!

Today Elder Cortes, Elder Aquino, Elder Levi, and I went to
Catacaos to shop and get a few souvenirs. I bought a little shoulder bag that I
can take a few things in when I don't want to take my backpack. Catacoas was so
cool. I love being able to see different parts of Peru. There was this GIANT Catholic
church there that was pretty cool. Everyone here says that they are Catholic
whether they are practicing or not. Every taxi has a cross hanging from the
mirror and every house has a sticker that says "Please bless this Catholic
home". It's so much different living here than it is in the states. I love
experiencing this culture though. Today we rode this little van back from
Catacaos and I sat next to this catholic nun. That was definitely a first!
haha. I love it here in Piura.

View from the balcony of our room before Church

Catacaos Peru! Pretty cool place!

With my new shoulder bag in Catacaos

Catholic Church in Catacaos

Me, my trainer and his trainer shopping today in Tottus

In the Combi

I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have right now to be a
missionary! I can't wait to hear from the prophet and the apostles this next
week. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I am so grateful to be able to
say that I know my Savior lives, and that He loves us, and that He suffered for
our sins. I know that thanks to The Atonement we can live with our Heavenly
Father and our families for eternity! I know that this church is true!

Thanks for all of the love and Support! Love you tons!

Love, Elder Baker

P.S. It can be kind of sketchy eating with the members, but the
food they always serve us is super good. There hasn't been anything yet that I
have had to gag down. And I'm not sure about how I'm going to be able to watch
conference. Hopefully I will be able to watch it in English! And yeah, we have
a sink. It is outside of our bedroom though. The fridge and stove thingy are
inside our bedroom.

Not gonna lie, I could really enjoy some weather that calls for
sweats and a hoodie right now. Thanks for the message of hope. I love that the
Gospel is a message of Hope. There is always something to smile about with the
gospel.

Lauren, Sounds like things are going well with your new companion!
That's funny that she has been reading your blog! I'm so jealous about the
Koala bears! They're so cute! The only animals I see here are dogs without any
hair. And I see like 51,683,543,843,421,698,469 every day. Keep working hard! I
pray for you every day! Love you and thanks for your great example! Crazy to
think that you have less than a year left in Australia! You better make it
count! haha. Love you!